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The writer’s tool is language. We are all born into language, but what if the one we are born into is not the one we end up speaking? What are the forces in our lives that determine our use of language, that prompt or stifle our need to speak? And how does the writer find his or her authentic voice?

I been to cities that never close down From New York to Rio and Old London Town But no matter how far or how wide I roam I still call… Lismore… home

(With apologies to Peter Allen)

It is widely believed, to quote a government report on culturally and linguistically diverse communities, CALD in the jargon, that Australia is “a successful and vibrant multicultural nation, with nearly half its population either born overseas or having at least one parent born overseas”.

Having family, friends and patients going through their cancer journeys I am very happy to support the wonderful work of the Cancer Council, which raises money to help patients in many different ways and to help fund research with the aim of a cancer free future.

Less spontaneous, for a surgeon who hasn’t danced properly for 30 years, was accepting an invitation for this year’s Dance for Cancer in Lismore. The decision was both exciting and scary, but I soon found myself in the hands of amazing teachers - thank you to Martin and Heather Elphinstone. They have taken me from being a dance leader, the largest in my long-ago ballet class, to being a follower - no easy task. They have also taken me into the amazing world of Cuban dancing, such an elegant style and so much fun to do.

Of the hundreds – or is it thousands? – of asylum seekers who have been detained in the “holding centres” of Christmas Island, Port Hedland, Nauru, Manus and Port Moresby none is likely to be as recognisable as the Kurdish-Iranian Behrouz Boochani whose book, dictated to an interpreter via WhatsApp on his cell phone has taken the Australian literary world by storm.

The topics were as diverse as could be imagined, ranging from life as a JMO on the Northern Rivers to medical cannabis and a surgical aid program in Timor Leste (East Timor) involving doctors from Australia, Cuba and China.

The second annual NORDOCS gathering received sponsorship from the Northern NSW Local Health District and the North Coast Primary Health Network, with the Lismore venue being provided by the University Centre for Rural Health. It was held under the barrier-less “unconference” format .

The 30 attendees also heard about the history of the local medical fraternity from 1866, the challenges of rural surgical training, managing obstructive sleep apnoea, the prospects (and challenges) of greater longevity, lifestyle medicine and modern stroke management.